What does it take to repair a brand when trust has fractured? At Qantas, CEO Vanessa Hudson’s playbook was disarmingly simple — listen hard, change fast and focus relentlessly on customers and people.
It’s been just over two years since Vanessa Hudson was appointed to the top job at Qantas, when the national carrier was reeling from a series of legal and operational issues that significantly disenfranchised its customers and impacted the reputation of the once-trusted brand.
Hudson, who had spent more than three decades working for Qantas, and the prior four years as its group CFO during the COVID pandemic, was tasked with rebuilding the company’s image and overseeing a complex recovery phase.
As guest speaker at a recent NSW AICD lunch event in Sydney, Hudson was unreservedly straightforward as she fielded questions from state division council president Sam Martin-Williams FAICD and audience members on corporate turbulence, the lessons learned and how she set about creating meaningful change.
“It’s really important when you have gone through a disruptive period like the one at Qantas, that you also learn from the mistakes,” said Hudson. “From the richness in understanding why people go wrong is how you strengthen the organisation and the governance framework going forward.”
Her first six months in the job were by far the most challenging, she said. The early departure of her predecessor Alan Joyce in the wake of suggestions that Qantas had sold airline tickets for flights that had been cancelled saw Hudson stepping in sooner than expected. “There was so much noise through various channels.” She stopped reading the news and told the corporate communications team she would focus on what mattered most — “the things I can control”.
“I took on some really good advice — focus on the customer, focus on your people and get your team in place as quickly as you can.”
Hudson wasted no time while a Group Board Governance Review was in play and would ultimately call out the importance of board renewal, but also recommend management renewal. When the review was released in 2024, 70 per cent of the group’s leaders were either new to the organisation, their role or the leadership team.
And in FY25, Qantas and Jetstar clocked up their best on-time performances since the pre-pandemic era.
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Unlocking culture
So how has Hudson worked on shifting and repairing the culture at Qantas? In an organisation of 30,000 widely dispersed people, culture needs to be driven from the top, she said, but also unlocked from the bottom.
Hudson is on board with the philosophy of “servant leadership” — as well as three simple practices:
I see you. “Being visible, not sitting in your office or in the Chairman’s Lounge, but out in the terminal, being accessible and approachable.” (Hudson chooses to fly economy domestically.)
I hear you. “One of the most important leadership characteristics of modern times is listening to what people and customers at the frontline are saying.”
What you say matters to me. “[When you get feedback] you do something about it — and if you can’t close the loop, you must say why.”
Servant leaders put the needs of employees first, with the intention of helping them thrive. Hudson also applies these principles to her relationship with Qantas chair John Mullen AM, who succeeded Richard Goyder AO FAICD in late 2024.
The forward agenda
→ The largest fleet renewal program in the airline’s history — delivery of aircraft for Project Sunrise — will connect Australia to London and New York directly.
“That’s exciting, and terrifying as well,” said Hudson. “The capex profile gives me sleepless nights. When we talk about capital management at the board, there are tough conversations, but it is the most important thing we do.”
→ Decarbonisation is another ongoing challenge. Australia, an island nation that relies on aviation to connect its cities, must become a leader in alternative fuels, said Hudson. “We don’t have all the answers. We can’t do it by ourselves. We need a coalition of airports, government and other airlines to figure this out.”
→ Managing cyber threats is also pressing. Qantas experienced a massive data breach in July, exposing the personal data (but no financial details) of approximately 5.7 million customers, which were later released on the dark web. “The lesson I took from that was about communicating quickly and transparently,” said Hudson. “We mobilised around the customer.” The airline let anyone who may have been impacted know within 24 hours of the breach and subsequently took out a legal injunction to stop the public dissemination of information.
“A close, cohesive working relationship between management and the board doesn’t just come by chance,” she said. “You have to be thoughtful and deliberate about it. Good boards have disciplines. What works? What didn’t work? What could we do better next time?”
One upshot of recent cohesion has been a change to the entire strategy agenda this year, due to feedback from the board around earlier engagement over strategic planning.
“Directors are your greatest asset for figuring out strategy or working through problems as a CEO,” said Hudson. “New directors bring new perspectives from the other boards they are on. But directors who have been there for the journey are also important for that knowledge and experience of things that didn’t work.”
In her view, the board should live by the same leadership values as management. “When a more junior manager presents to the board, I want the board to recognise the magnitude of the task for that person,” she said. “They may be stressed and haven’t slept the night before. I’ve pulled board members up for checking their phones, texting or not being really present. I’ll stick my head up and say, ‘Not good enough!’ The job of improving leadership in an organisation is never done.”
This article first appeared as ''Taking flight in the February/March 2026 Issue of Company Director Magazine.
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